Railway-car end wall



S. H. CONWELL RAILWAY CAR END WALL qriginal Filed Feb. 6. 1920 June 10 1924.

Patented June 10, 1924.

stares earner SAMUEL H. CONWELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Original a iplication filed February e, 1920, Serial No. 356,693. Divided andthis apri'icatidn mamas RAILWAY-CAR END WALL.

3,1922. Serial No. 578,318,

T all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, SAMUEL H. CONWELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Gar End l/Valls, of which the following is a specification. s V V My invention relates to a metal end wall structure for railway cars, more particularly for railway cars of the gondola type; and one ofthe primary objects of the invention istoprovide a car end structure which will be extremely strong and rigid as against impact, from; without, inertia thrusts of the cargo, and the weaving stresses set up in the body ,of the car by sudden starting and stopping and the swinging movement of the car in rounding curves and passing over if) inequalities of the track.

, Another object of the invention in its specific application to gondola cars is to provide a top chord construction for the car endwhich will be very strong in itself and so constructed as to rigidify the body of the car as a whole, 7

v The invention consists of the new and improved devices, constructions and arrangements, to be hereinafter described and claimed, for carrying out the above stated objects and such other incidental objects as will be referred to in the following descriptidn ofthepreferred embodiment of the inyentio'n, shown in the accompanying drawa, .H

In the drawing 1 Fig.1 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the end of a gondola car constructed in accordance, with my invention, the struc- 40 titre being viewed from the interior of the wand,

2 is a fragmentary plan view of the end ,of, the car, I o I ,Referring to the drawing, 10 indicates a sheet of metal provided, preferably, with means. constituting, inwardly projecting flangesalong all four of, its edges. In the construction shown, these flanges are integral with the body, of the sheet, being fiedb uiamy severing and bending the edg, of said sheets. The numerals 11, 11 designate flanges formedalong the vertical edges; ofsheet 19, these flanges being secured to the side walls 12, 12 of the car, b'y rneansj, for example, of bolts 13". 14' designates a flange along the upper edge ofsheet l'Oaiid 15 a flange along the lower edgejt' i ereof, flange 15 being secured to theainider; frame of the car, indicated at 16, by means of rivets 17, or other suitable fastening devices. Ihe floor of the car is indicated at l8. 'llhef ends 19 of flange 14-, and also the ends ,ZQ Of flange 15 are preferably bent oyr..as shown, and secured to the vertical flanges The sheet 10 with its flanges and the means for unifying the same, constitutes, therefore, a shallow box-like structure of very considerable strength, whiclrfis arranged cbetween and secured to the side walls of I,

In order to give addition '1 i rigidity to the end structure a seco of metal 21 is provided, thisjsheet; ranged face to face with sheet 10 arid-being provided, preferably, with an upper out standing flange 22', in alignmen t yith 14 of sheet 10, a lower outstanding flange 23 secured to the under frame rates flanges 24:, 24, along its verticaledges the latter flanges overlapping the s idewal l s llof the car on the outside, and beingsecuredthereto' by means of the fastening devices 13, above mentioned. 0 w Preferably flange 22fof sheet QLQis forI'ned with a downturned lip.QS and biJth SheetS l0 and 21 maybelfornied withrfiiitt blfli ein forcing corrugations.- 1 Preferablyjthese corrugations, designated 26 drawingare disposed so that those of one sheet ,ali.gnvvitl1 those of the other, the sheets being' secured one to the other, at points between the; cor rugations, by meanso'frivets 27 The end wall of the car is thus reinforced by, a series of hollow tubular elements which give the structure verygreat strength andrigidity,

It will be observed thatthe-flange I f is considerably wider at the, ends than at-the middle, and thejsame may be the, case I with the lower flange, 15. When the Construction of my invention. is applied to a gondola car, as shown described the flanges 1 L and 22 constitute t I chord of the end wall Itjis ta this top chord be strong, as it often happens that heavy articles areloa, ifflto thegcar over its end walls. A part of the may rest upon; orcome into contactr-avit the top of the end wa ll, while the car is j 1: p be subjected a less as (at p or cargo thrusts from within, and as described is particularly well calculated be- I form this function efficiently.

cause of the constructions described to per- Its increased width at the ends, that is at the side walls of the car, materially increases its strength and particularly its capacity for resisting weaving strains. If sheet 10 is corrugated,

. as shown, the pressing of the corrugations will involve necessarily a drawing in of the edges of the plate parallel thereto, that is to say, the upper and lower edges of the sheet as it is placed on the car. By bending over these edgeson straight lines, flanges will be producedwhich are wider near their ends than at the middle. Trimmingwill not be required. However, it is realized that the increased width of the top chord at its ends might be accomplished in other ways.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 356,693, filed February 6, 1920. r

I claim: 7

1. The combination with the side walls of a gondola car, of a sheet metal panel provided alongits upper edge with a rigidifying chord extending across the car from side to side thereof and increasing in width toward the sides of the car. v

2. The combination with the side walls of a gondola car, of a sheet-metal panel provided along its upper edge with a rigidifying chord comprising flanges projecting from said panel in opposite directions and extending across the car fromside to side thereof; one of said flanges increasing in width toward the side walls of the car.

3. The combination with the side walls of a gondola car, of a sheet metal panel coin prising metal sheets arranged face to face and formed with attaching flanges which overlap the inner and outer surfaces of the side walls said sheets having their upper edges bent over on horizontal lines toprovide a reinforcing chord comprisin oppositely disposed flanges, one of said flanges increasing in width toward the side walls of the car and being formed at its extremities with angularly disposed portions adapted to be secured to the flanges which overlap the inner surfaces of the side walls of the car.

4. The combination with the side walls of a gondolacar, of an end structure comprising a metal sheet, the upper edge of which is bent over and formedto provide a top chord flange, wider at the ends than at the middle.

5. The combination with the side walls of a gondola car, of an end structure comprising a metal sheet, the upper edge of which is bent over and formed to provide a top chord flange, wider at the ends than at the middle, and means for securing the ends of said flange to the side walls of the car.

6. The combination with the side walls of a gondola car, of a sheet metal panel. provided along its upper edge with a rigidity ing chord extending across the car from side to side thereof and increasing in width to ward the sides of the car, and means for securing the ends of said chord to the side walls of the car.

7. An end structure for a railway car comprising a sheet metal panel, the upper and vertical edges of which are bent over to provide integral flanges, the end portions of said upper flange being bent down, overlapped upon and secured to said vertical flanges. I r

8. An end structure for a railway car comprising a sheet metal panel provided at its upper, lower and vertical edges with angularly projecting flanges, the flange along the said lower edge increasing in width toward its ends, and means for uniting the ends of the upper and lower flanges with said vertical flanges to form, with the body of the panel. a box-like construction.

9. An end structure for a railway car con prising a sheet metal panel, the upper, lower and vertical edges of which are bent over to provide integral flanges, the flange along the said upper edge increasing in width toward its ends, and means for uniting said flanges so as to form with the body of the panel, a box-like construction.

10. An end structure for a railway car comprising a sheet metal panel, the upper, lower and vertical edges of which are bent over to provide integral flanges, the ends of the upper and lower flanges being bent, over lapped upon, and securedto said vertical flanges.

11. The combination with the side walls of a railway car, of an end wall comprising a box-like metal structure having upper, lower and vertical flanges, said upper and lower flanges increasing in width toward their ends, which structure is arranged between said side walls and secured thereto.

12. The combination with the side walls of a railway car, of an end wall comprising a box-like metal structure having upper,

lower and-vertical flanges, which structure is '13. The combination with the side walls of a railway car, of an end wall comprising a box-like metal structure having upper, lower and vertical flanges, which structure is arranged between said side walls and secured thereto, and a sheet of metal arranged face to face with said box-like structure having flanges overlapping the said side walls on the outside thereof, the contacting portions of said sheet and structure being formed with aligning corrugations constituting together a series of hollow ribs.

14:. The combination with the side walls of a railway car, of an end wall comprising a box-like metal structure having upper, lower and vertical flanges, which structure is arranged between said side walls and secured thereto, and a sheet of metal arranged face to face with said boX-like structure having flanges overlapping the said side walls on the outside thereof, and a flange along its upper edge aligning with the upper flangeof said structure.

15. The combination with the side walls of a railway car, of an end wall comprising a sheet of metal, the upper, lower and vertical edges of which are bent to form integral flanges and united to form with the body of the sheet a box-like structure, which is arranged between said side walls, and a metal sheet arranged face to face with said structure having integral flanges overlapping the side walls of the car on the outside thereof.

16. The combination with the side walls of a railway car, of an end wall comprising a sheet of metal, the upper, lower and vertical edges of which are bent to form integral flanges and united to form with the body of the sheet a box-like structure which is arranged between said side walls, and a metal sheet arranged face to face with said structure having integral flanges overlapping the side walls of the car on the outside thereof and an integral flange along its upper edge.

17. The combination with the side walls of a railway car, of an end wall comprising a sheet of metal, the upper, lower andvertiQ cal edges of which are bent to form integral flanges and united to form with the body of the sheet a box-like structure which is arranged between said side walls, and a metal sheet arranged face to face with said structure having integral flanges overlapping the side walls of the car on the outside thereof and integral flanges on its upper and lower edges.

18. The combination with the side walls of a railway car, of an end wall comprising a sheet of metal, the upper, lower and vertical edge-s ofwhich are bent over to form integral flanges and united to form with the body of the sheet, a box-like structure which is arranged between said side walls, and a metal sheet arranged face to face with said structure and secured thereto.

19. The combination with the side walls of a railway car, of an end wall comprising a box-like metal structure having upper, lower and vertical flanges, which structure is arranged between said side walls and secured thereto, and asheet of metal arranged face to face with said box-like structure and secured thereto.

SAMUEL H. CONWELL. 

